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Poll: Gigging and over 50 - When to quit?

Gigging and over 50 - When to quit?

  • A soon as my current band(s) dissolve

    Votes: 8 0.9%

  • By 60

    Votes: 5 0.6%

  • By 65

    Votes: 4 0.5%

  • By 70

    Votes: 10 1.2%

  • By 75

    Votes: 9 1.1%

  • By 80

    Votes: 6 0.7%

  • Once I’m physically unable to

    Votes: 714 83.4%

  • When I can only consume liquefied carrots

    Votes: 100 11.7%
  • Total voters
    856
#363
51 years young and no plans to ever give up gigging, especially living in NYC .....30+ years of it and it NEVER gets old to me ... It only gets better.

In fact, I'd probably feel much older if I were to stop gigging.

LIVE.jpg
 
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#367
52 here.

Gig last night in two hours away in friday night traffic. It was a high profile multi band event and I wasn't looking forward to it as it was basically 12 hour time commitment.

Thinking we were playing first, I made arrangements to use the other bassist cabinet, only to find they played first.

For there at, left a two am...that is a long night for $100.00
 
#369
...other side of the coin... recently diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy (which is what Clapton has.) Little chance of reversal or cure. Gonna have to hang it up soon, but as long as the fingers still work, I'll keep going... love my little small-time gigs every weekend... maybe I can go back to playing with a pick...
 
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#371
dramatwist said:
...other side of the coin... recently diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy (which is what Clapton has.) Little chance of reversal or cure. Gonna have to hang it up soon, but as long as the fingers still work, I'll keep going... love my little small-time gigs every weekend... maybe I can go back to playing with a pick...
Click to expand...
Ok folks I promise this will be the last time.
I myself suffer from Rheumatoid, Osteo, and Psoriatic, and probably every other Arthritis there is and varying degrees of paralysis and numbness in my left arm and hand due to 2 strokes 6 years ago. I was told by the "so called" medical experts I would never pay the bass again let alone standing. My answer to them was "Watch me!" Not necessarily in those words. I first went to short scale and became somewhat proficient. That was a good thing. Then I became driven to play a long scale which was the goal of my bass teacher in the beginning. After 2 years of research, relearning the instrument, and just messing with everything I could mess with I think I have come up with a recipe for success. I am here to tell you that 6 weeks ago I performed my first standing 70 min practice session in 6 years. It was with a heavily modified 2012 MIM Fender Standard Precision. So if this old fart (I will be 67 very soon) can make those over educated "so called" experts eat their words I firmly believe anyone can. There was a reason I said about dead cold fingers and that is it. If I could do it once I can do it again. We are in very talented company, Eric Lifeson, Keith Emerson, Keith Richard's, Larry Davis just to name a few. It doesn't matter what the physical limitations are due to. What matters is it doesn't have to be the end of doing something you love for so long.
Soapbox has been put back under the bed. If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to PM me. The only Stupid question is the one that goes un-asked.
Bob
 
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#373
I'm 66 & I'm playing quite a bit nowadays
This week it's Friday,Saturday & Sunday.Got a kinda high profile(at least for my area) one on Wednesday & and a frat party next Sat.
I had a arm injury about 4 years ago & got sidelined for a little bit.I actually played for a year with a broken humerus bone(Was still able to move my arm a little bit.Took a damn year to get the insurance SNAFUS resolved).
Figured it was time to retire but I kept getting calls & I've got medical debt. So I'm carrying on!
 
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#375
At Rafters.jpg
Here we are playing at the lake on a Sunday. I'm the one on the left (duh, with the bass!). 67 years old. My husband Steve on the right, 69. Alan, our drummer, is a baby, and so good. It was about 98F that afternoon, full sun (the stage roofing doesn't do much when the sun's coming in at an angle).
How long will I keep this going? As long as I can climb up on that stage!
 
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#377
I’m 38 so a bit younger than some folks here but it’s something I’ve already put some thought into. I’ve been gigging pretty consistently for 20 years. I don’t ever plan on quitting but I did slow down a lot to spend Time with my kids. As much as I love it I doubt I’ll be playing heavier music into old age. I’m really focused on that right now because I do feel my time playing heavier music is limited. But i do enjoy a big variety of music, I’ve played both jazz and acoustic rock gigs in the past. Could see myself going either one of those directions and both are more excepting of sitting onstage than high energy rock and metal shows. Gear wise I’m already switching to lighter gear. My Mesa d-800 is only 5 1/2 pounds, gotta love that. A lighter cab situation is next on the list. My best friend who plays guitar has been in all but one of the bands I’ve played in since high school. He recently sold his Mesa dual rectifier and went with a light weight rig (fractal ax8 with class d power amp that only weighs a couple pounds and a 212 cab) changing the heavy gear out for lighter stuff has definitely helped. We giggled with racks, an ampeg 810 and Mesa oversized 412 in roadcases for many years. It got to the point where we’d turn down shows just because we didn’t want to move our gear but moving to lighter rigs has definitely helped. I plan to retire from the hospital at 55 and then stay busy during retirement doing various music related things like playing more and I’d like to get into building basses from scratch eventually.
 
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#379
Take a look out in the crowd. I bet a lot of the places have an older audience.

I'm 54. I've turned down several gigs, because I don't want to spend late nights with mediocre musicians. I'd rather be busier, but two groups playing jazz, each 2-4 times a month, and another gigging blues during the summer/fall will keep me busy enough until/unless something right comes along. Plus, I'm starting on fretless.
 

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